Want to know why the GOP Has Become the Party of Ignorance, Anti-science, Denial, and Hatred? This Audio is Essential Listening.

November 13, 2012

This might seem off-topic, but it’s really not, because it gets to the roots of the cultural division we have in the US, a division that wasn’t created by the Republican party, but which, since the 1960s, has been consciously targeted, amplified, and exploited for electoral gain. (strong caution: frequent use of the N word)

Lee Atwater, the Godfather of Below the Belt Dogwhistle politics, gives above an unguarded description of how he aims at exploiting racial tension and fear to further his goals. This is the tap root of talk radio, Fox News, and the divisions of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, religion and race that we saw so fully developed in the past decade, and which have finally driven a once-great party into its current, extreme, salivating, anti-science, unelectable frenzy. The specificity with which Atwater lays it out is stunning.

A few leading republicans are starting to recognize this and call it what it is. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindahl has now stepped forward to call out what his party has become. The Stupid Party.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Monday called on Republicans to “stop being the stupid party” and make a concerted effort to reach a broader swath of voters with an inclusive economic message that pre-empts efforts to caricature the GOP as the party of the rich.

In his first interview since his party’s electoral thumping last week, Jindal urged Republicans to both reject anti-intellectualism and embrace a populist-tinged reform approach that he said would mitigate what exit polls show was one of President Barack Obama’s most effective lines of attack against Mitt Romney.

He was just as blunt on how the GOP should speak to voters, criticizing his party for offending and speaking down to much of the electorate.

“It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments — enough of that,” Jindal said. “It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters.”

4 Responses to “Want to know why the GOP Has Become the Party of Ignorance, Anti-science, Denial, and Hatred? This Audio is Essential Listening.”

Thank you for posting this video and for your incisive thoughts! In the days leading up to the elections, I tried to connect these dots through a series of blog posts that placed Romney’s facial barrage during his GOP acceptance speech (in derision of climate change) in context with a major push by Conservative groups to seed public doubt and division over the science of climate change (see “Climate of Denial” by Frontline: Both videos are embedded in the following link). I also spend my past five years weaving the psychology and tactics described in this article [and revealed by the sound clip] in a novel that reveals the psychological roots of climate denial.

As a surrogate ‘stem cells’ spokesperson for the GW Bush White House over (twice), I watched in daily frustration as my supposed allies (national biotech policymakers) kept Americans confused and divided over stem cells–the exact charade that’s unfolded over climate change and for the exact same reasons: to serve the fiscal goals of financial special interests.

It’s long past time for Americans to stop behaving like sheep by eagerly embracing whatever we want to believe–whatever fits our egos, our worldview bias, or our momentary convenience–and face climatic and fossil fuel reality. It’s time we grow up, and become the delusion we like to believe we are.

It’s chilling to think how close the election was; a large electoral college win for Obama, but let’s not forget how tiny each percentage point was. The Republican Party at its most ideologically blinkered came very close to being exonerated.